Hybridization and Spatial Reinforcement of Composite Materials

Abstract

Composite materials are used in various designs to improve the characteristics of constructions and reduce their weight. The properties of these materials and the problems of obtaining structural elements based upon them have received a great deal of attention in a number of countries. The fields of composite applications are diversified. They include structural elements of flying vehicles, their casings, wings, fuselages, tails and nose cones, jet engine stators, panels for various purposes, main rotors of helicopters, heat — proofing components, construction elements such as panels, racks, shields, backing elements, etc. In shipbuilding, composites are used in the hulls of light boats, shells, cowlings and so on. Composite materials have long been employed in roof panels in railway transport, window frames and flooring. Automakers are using composites in almost all car parts — body, shaft, brake disks, etc. At present, composite implants, canes and crutches for the handicapped, stretchers and many others are in extensive medical use. Problems of design, experimental check-up and production processes of composites and their products have been expounded in a great many investigations. As a result, the physico-mechanical characteristics of the materials and variations in their properties in response to static and dynamic loads have received detailed description, and the fundamentals of designing different purpose composite structures have been elaborated. Rapid expansion of application domains, toughening loading and operational regimes have called for the elimination of the intrinsic drawbacks of composite materials, to which in the first place belong weak transverse strength and stiffness, low longitudinal shear modulus and poor compressive strength in the reinforcement direction.